Involuntary Servitude and Political Prisoners

Question 1

Sec. 18, Art. III.

1. No person shall be detained solely by reason of his ___________ and ____________.
2. No _______________ in any form shall exist except as a punishment for a ________ whereof the party shall have been duly _______.

Answer 1

political beliefs;
aspirations;
involuntary servitude;
crime;
convicted

Question 2

What is involuntary servitude?

Answer 2

Slavery and involuntary servitude, together with their corollary peonage, all denote “a condition of enforced, compulsory service of one to another”

[Hodges v. U.S., 203 U.S. 1 (1906) in Rubi v. Provincial Board of Mindoro, supra].

Question 3

Can an agreement that stipulates that any domestice service shall be absolutely gratuitous be valid?

Answer 3

NO.

Domestic services are always to be remunerated, and no agreement may subsist in law in which it is stipulated that any domestic service shall be absolutely gratuitous, unless it be admitted that slavery may be established in this country through a covenant entered into between interested parties [De los Reyes v. Alojado, G.R. No. L-5671 (1910)].

Question 4

Can a former court stenographer be compelled under pain of contempt to transcribe stenographic notes he had failed to attend to while in service?

Answer 4

YES.

A former court stenographer may be compelled under pain of contempt to transcribe stenographic notes he had failed to attend to while in service; such compulsion is not the condition of enforced compulsory service referred to by the Constitution [Aclaracion v. Gatmaitan, G.R. No. L-39115 (1975)].

Question 5

Can the army legally restraint a political prisoner?

Answer 5

NO.

The accused being political prisoners subject to the civil jurisdiction of ordinary courts of justice, if they are to be prosecuted at all, the army has no jurisdiction, nor power, nor authority, from all legal standpoints, to continue holding them in restraint. They are entitled, as a matter of fundamental right, to be immediately released, any allegation as to whether a war has ended or not [Raquiza v. Bradford, G.R. No. L-44 (1945)].

Question 6

Can the Court order the release on bail of political prisoners ‘even prior to the presentation of the corresponding information.?

Answer 6

YES.

Finding that Sec. 19 of CA No. 682 authorizes that the political prisoners in question “may be released on bail, even prior to the presentation of the corresponding information,” and this may be done “existing provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding.”, the Court held that it must be assumed that the discretion granted must be construed in the sense that the same may be exercised in cases wherein it was not heretofore granted by law. The Court also held it reasonable to assume that the discretion granted is to the effect that the People’s Court may exercise jurisdiction to order the release on bail of political prisoners “even prior to the presentation of the corresponding information” [Duran v. Abad Santos, G.R. No. L-99 (1945)].